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Nazca Peru
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 Machu Picchu Photos
Cuzco Again
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Back Home in California

Nazca Peru: Somewhere between Lima and Nazca the bus passed this desert region cluttered with little huts constructed from palm mats. It reminded me of the Apple Valley homestead shacks 70-80 years ago in California.

Nazca Peru: There must be a thousand of these little minimum size shacks dotting the landscape along this section of the coast south of Lima.

Nazca Peru: Not long after we left Lima we passed many commercial clusters like this one. Most buildings have reinforcing bars sticking out of the tops in preparation for a second floor. Note the copy of the Christ statue in the upper left corner of my picture.

Nazca Peru: Every time our bus paused vendors would literally crawl all over to make a sale. This guy is standing on his cart to reach our very high windows.

Nazca Peru: Entrance to the newest deluxe hotel in town: the Casa Ayada? (Andina).

Nazca Peru: Major restoration work is underway to upgrade the Plaza de Armas and surrounding infrastructure. Here a gang of mostly women work on the sewer lines under the main street leading to the plaza.

Nazca Peru: Typical housing development in the rural area to the east of the city.

Nazca Lines Peru: Airline I used for my $40 over flight of the plain containing all the lines.

Nazca Lines Peru: Our pilot spent a lot of time flying the plane, but managed to keep us informed in perfect English during our over flight of the plain containing all the lines.

Nazca Lines Peru: Angle, one of the two other passengers in our plane. It is a noisy cabin so the head phones make it possible to hear the pilot's descriptions of things on the ground.

Nazca Lines Peru: Angle insisted on taking a picture of our co-pilot. The pilot had put them in the back and gave me the co-pilot's seat up front next to him. He never asked and I never mentioned that I'd had enough flying experience many decades ago to "solo."

Nazca Lines Peru: Angle's husband Richard, the other passenger in our little plane.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: We flew close to the surface part of the time. Here, so close the shadow of our plane is visible on the ground.

Nazca Lines Peru: That ancient pattern in the lower right could be a modern aircraft, but...

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there. Hardly any area is totally free of some markings.

Nazca Lines Peru: Though the lines were made centuries ago, it is possible to imagine modern themes for some of them.

Nazca Lines Peru: Some of the long straight lines look like interstate highways.

Nazca Lines Peru: Other of the lines seem to have been taken the natural run off channels into account, even incorporating them into the designs.

Nazca Lines Peru: Other of the lines seem to have been taken the natural run off channels into account, even incorporating them into the designs.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: The Hummingbird, an iconic shot widely seen in stories about the Nazca Lines.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

3 November 2005

Hello from the enigmatic lines of Nazca, 

Not wanting to travel after dark I chose the 11:20AM Viva Bus Line service out of Lima scheduled to get into Nazca shortly after dusk. On the way out of Lima I spotted another replica of the famous Rio de Janeiro Cristo Redentor statue on a distant hill; I'm wondering if the same Brazilian artist is responsible for all the copies. Later about halfway to Nazca we came upon a vast desert expanse covered with tiny homestead shacks made from poles and reed mats that reminded me of the US governments give-away program in Apple Valley California a half century ago. To gain permanent title to the land each homesteader needed to erect a dwelling containing a minimum of about 200 square feet, the majority of the buildings consequently were that size, just as they were on this Peruvian plain. Another passenger on the bus confirmed these were indeed dwellings, though I could see little signs of habitation. 

The bus arrived in Nazca on schedule and stopped for departing passengers on the Pan-American Highway at the edge of town. A short walk got me into the city center. Several hotels are immediately visible and three locals recommended the Hotel Nazca Lines. At $56 it is a good value and one of the three "best hotels in town." The hotel offers free Internet access and I filled some of my leisure hours sitting before the glowing screen. 

This is a town that lives on tourism, though all of the rambunctious teenage activity in the evenings gives a different impression. While the central streets are paved, others are not and a block or two off the main street clouds of dust gust so often the little army of eager shoe shine boys are kept busy with their thirty cent services. The central Plaza de Armas is being renovated and a construction curtain surrounds the entire block. Curious people have cut viewing holes in the cloth allowing the obscured work to be inspected. It will be mostly one large concrete slab with numerous concrete planters... underwhelming. 

During my walks into the areas surrounding the developed part of the town I found myself challenged by many nervous dogs, all of which wanted to alert their owners to my passing. Along the graded dirt roads I see rows of adobe structures and walls. The smells of cooking fires laced with a strong hint of burning corn meal followed me along the dusty road. Farmers worked their land and livestock stood idly in the shade of trees within the adobe enclosures. Some 5 or 6 kilometers east of the town in a desolate area I found the actual "best" hotel in Nazca: the elegant Hotel Cantayo. Located in a secluded area, it is very private and very expensive with rooms rates starting at $125. Surrounded by dusty farms and adobe it appears to have been built within the ruins of an old monastery. The contrast between the squalor outside the high walls and the opulent Spanish colonial splendor inside is striking. 

Much of my time was spent trying to understand the options for transportation up to Cuzco. There are no flights to anywhere... except for the over flights to see the Nazca Lines themselves, of course. All of the many bus services start their runs for any distant city in the late afternoon or evening... not something I enjoy. In the end I decided a 14 hour ride through the night over mountains would be a better choice than a seven hour ride back to Lima with another hotel stay there before catching a flight to Cuzco. 

Naturally, the main reason anyone comes to Nazca is to see the "Nazca Lines." At ground level not much is visible other than large patches of the surface which seems to have been swept clean of sand revealing the underlying contrast of a rocky surface. A few kilometers north of town an observation tower has been erected from which several of the more interesting artifacts are easily visible. However, the only practical way to see the full scope of the ancient efforts is to take a flight in one of the small planes. Several companies offer half hour flights over the plain containing the strange archaeological relics. Our tiny craft held three passengers and the pilot. The $40 cost of my half hour over flight included transportation to and from the airport and a welcome Pisco Sour drink. That flight made the whole trip to Nazca worthwhile. Most of the photos I took from the air lacked adequate contrast to make out the existence of hundreds of lines crisscrossing the plain below. Fortunately, the software I use to process the camera images allows for enhancement and using that produced startling results easily missed with the naked eye.  

So, what do I think happened here? An initial impression suggests the doodle pad of a bored executive or the pen cleaning sheet used by a 1950's draftsman working in ink. Thousands of lines and features, many "drawn" on top of others, stretch over the Peruvian Pampa. Most are merely very long straight lines. Only a few dozen elaborate representations of recognizable subjects can be seen in the jumble. It occurred to me all this work might be the result of prehistoric teenage graffiti artists, each trying to outdo the others. One spiral design might be a representation of an actual engineering solution to getting people down to the water level of wells in those early days. A spider, a hummingbird, a monkey, a lizard are all obvious designs easily discernible, but the majority of the drawings represent nothing obvious... just long straight lines intersecting one another, apparently drawn at random. A good deal of serious analysis and research into the origin and meanings of the Nazca Lines has been conducted, in addition to numberless speculations by amateur archaeologists and screwballs. I'm glad I made the side trip to this mysterious place; the ol' knee needed more time to heal before tackling Machu Picchu anyway. 

I finished reading Anton Chekhov's short story, The Party. It is an intimate look into the lives of the Russian aristocracy in the 1800's. The sensitive portrayals of his characters and masterful development of a simple plot make it clear why his work has gained classic stature. As I think about the effect reading all these old classics has had on me I see a connection with traveling widely. Travel broadens my understanding of our contemporary world and societies; reading deepens my appreciations of the contributions made by earlier eras and cultures. The combination is symbiotic. 

 

Peace,
Fred L Bellomy

 

 

 

 

Nazca Lines Peru: Rendition of the most famous of the Nazca Lines - The Hummingbird. Art on the wall of the Airline office lobby.

Nazca Peru: View of the pool and gardens at the $56 Nazca Lines Hotel where I stayed two nights.

Nazca Lines Peru: Airline I used for my $40 over flight of the plain containing all the lines.

Nazca Lines Peru: The single engine aircraft we used for my $40 over flight of the plain containing all the lines. This plane looks suspiciously like the one I flew as a student pilot back in 1954... presumably of more modern manufacture!

Nazca Lines Peru: People see a hummingbird in this pattern and it is probably the best known pattern in the entire collection.

Nazca Lines Peru: The Hummingbird, an iconic shot widely seen in stories about the Nazca Lines.

Nazca Lines Peru: Most of the plain is bare, but around the perimeter I see indications of habitation.

Nazca Lines Peru: Most of the plain is bare, but farming is obvious around the perimeter in some places.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: Highway toll gate as seen from the Nazca over flight.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

 

Nazca Lines Peru: Art on the wall of the Airline office lobby showing one of the patterns found in the fields outside the city.

Nazca Peru: View of the pool and gardens at the $56 Nazca Lines Hotel where I stayed two nights.

Nazca Peru: Some of the art hanging on the lobby walls in the $56 Hotel Nazca Lines where I stayed.

Nazca Peru: Some of the art hanging on the lobby walls in the $56 Hotel Nazca Lines where I stayed. Notice the earthquake warning sign!

Nazca Peru: Some of the art hanging on the lobby walls in the $56 Hotel Nazca Lines where I stayed. Notice the earthquake warning sign!

Nazca Peru: Some of the art hanging on the lobby walls in the $56 Hotel Nazca Lines where I stayed.

Nazca Peru: A portion of the model sitting in the lobby of my hotel showing the archeological area containing the actual lines.

Nazca Peru: A portion of the model sitting in the lobby of my hotel showing the archeological area containing the actual lines.

Nazca Peru: A portion of the model sitting in the lobby of my hotel showing the archeological area containing the actual lines.

Nazca Peru: Several miles to the east of the city out in the country everyone is responsible for their own sidewalks. Just beyond this photo the sidewalks stop and several people in the transition area have erected barriers to discourage people from walking on their private property.

Nazca Peru: Typical housing development in the rural area to the east of the city.

Nazca Peru: Typical farm in the rural area to the east of the city.

Nazca Peru: Typical farm in the rural area to the east of the city.

Nazca Peru: Entrance to the elegant Hotel Cantayo several miles out in the country; very private.

Nazca Peru: Entrance to the elegant Hotel Cantayo several miles out in the country. This inside entrance is hidden to the outside.

Nazca Peru: Entrance gate inside the elegant Hotel Cantayo grounds several miles out in the country; very private.

Nazca Peru: Some of the art hanging on the lobby walls in the elegant $99 Hotel Cantayo .

Nazca Peru: Some of the art hanging on the lobby walls in the elegant $99 Hotel Cantayo .

Nazca Peru: Some of the art hanging on the lobby walls in the elegant $99 Hotel Cantayo .

Nazca Lines Peru: More than one person has suggested this pattern looks like an airport landing strip.

Nazca Lines Peru: There's that landing strip again.

Nazca Lines Peru: The man made lines mingle with natural features of the landscape like this river bed.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names. Most of my photos of the lines have been enhanced for clarity like this one.

Nazca Lines Peru: Flooding rivers have partially obliterated some of the lines created before the wet years.

Nazca Lines Peru: This particular pattern has been suggested to be a navigational guide for space visitors!

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: People see a hummingbird in this pattern and it is probably the best known pattern in the entire collection.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

Nazca Lines Peru: There are a lot of lines down there; many have been given names.

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